The Ecological Rift reviewed in Earth Island Journal

There are more factors than climate change that threaten our existence on Earth. Scientists warn that it is only one of nine “planetary life-support systems” vital for human survival. The other boundaries are: global freshwater use, chemical pollution, ocean acidification, land use change, loss of biodiversity and the increasing extinction rate, ozone and aerosol levels in the atmosphere, and the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles that regulate soil fertility. We’ve already crossed three of these critical boundaries – climate, the nitrogen cycle and biodiversity loss. We are close to breaching the boundaries of the rest.

How did we get to this point? In The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth, environmental sociologists John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York argue that the culprit is modern capitalism and its incessant drive to expand. Yes, that 800-pound gorilla also called “the market”….